Artemis Fowl: The LEP Hunt
by fxlling.stxrs
Summary: The People are in danger. Someone is tracking down each member of the LEP and taking them, one by one. Each time, no one is around, and now, almost all of the species below our feet are gone. Never to be seen again. And it's up to our favorite characters once again, Artemis Fowl, Holly Short, Butler, Foaly, and N 1.
1. Chapter 1: Trouble

I am sorry if this isn't how the book is supposed to go, it is an Artemis Fowl and Holly Short fan fiction. No lemon, and will include some sad scenes. Enjoy!  
 _Artemis found himself inside of some kind of machine. There was someone at the controls, moving the levers and pressing the buttons, but Artemis couldn't see anything. It was like he was the person. But then a screen appeared, at eye level, and suddenly, Artemis found himself looking at every LEP member, including Foaly, N°1 and other creatures. Their pictures were all crossed out with red lines, but five weren't_.  
 _Foaly_  
 _Holly_  
 _Trouble Kelp_  
 _Mulch_  
 _N°1_  
 _All of his friends._  
 _Laughing manically, the person grabbed the controls and the screen changed once more, showing Holly Short, alone, sitting on her bed in the LEP headquarters, and then the person pressed a stretched out and sank into Holly's neck, and she tottered woozily, finally collapsing as the screen with the LEP members popping up, with one more red line._  
 _A bright red line over Holly_.

Artemis woke with a start gasping for breath as he flopped around the giant bed he slept in. He struggle for a minute, trying to find where he was. Artemis finally relaxed as he realised he was in his own home.

"Butler!" He called suddenly. Immediately, the massive man came inside of Artemis's room, panic etched on his face.  
"When is the next time for us to catch a plane to LEP headquarters?" Artemis asked.  
"Never a plane. Could you call Holly to pick us up?" Butler asked.  
"Of course." Artemis responded. "If it's not too late."

"Holly?" Asked the voice belonging to Artemis Fowl.  
"

Hey, Artemis. What's up?" Asked Holly Short, about to sit down on her bed.  
"Don't sit down!" Artemis's panicked voice suddenly cried out.  
"Um...?" Holly trailed off, inches away from the bed.  
"Someone's tracking everyone underground." Artemis explained. "Is there any way Butler and I can get down there? I need to stop it, before... Before-"  
"Before what, Artemis?" Holly cut in.  
"Before he gets you!" Artemis screamed in exasperation.  
"M-me?" Holly stuttered.  
"And... And Trouble, Foaly, N°1, Mulch... You are the only ones left." Artemis recovered quickly.  
Holly smiled quickly, allowing herself the quick grin. Standing up, she opened the fairy communicator, which connected to the other one she had given to Artemis.  
"Better, we'll come to you. Are you still at the Manor?" Holly asked, grabbing her Neutrino and placing it onto her hip. It felt good to have it back.  
"Yes. Where are you exiting? We can pick you up." Artemis said curtly.  
"Tara, I think." Holly said, and then rushed out of the room, heading towards the LEP main office, which belonged to Trouble Kelp.  
"Alright. See you." Artemis said, and closed off the connection.  
 _What were you thinking?_ He chided to himself. _You never show emotion. But, good response._ He mentally congratulated himself.  
"Butler, take us to Tara." Artemis commanded, glancing at Butler who was by his side.  
"Of course." Butler replied, and proceeded to get the necessary items for their trip.

"Trubs!" Holly panted, facing towards the front desk.  
"Captain Short, call me Trouble!" Trouble Kelp shouted.  
"Artemis Fowl just contacted me. He said that we are in danger. We need to go see him!" Holly said, sighing quickly.  
"Artemis Fowl this, Artemis Fowl that. What if it's a trap?" Trouble asked.  
"We are being hunted. Someone has taken all of the LEP officers, including some of the additional, innocent People!" Holly cried. "Just give him a chance!"  
"Fine. He gets 48 hours. Foaly?" Trouble asked the eavesdropping centaur.  
"Yes, Trouble?" Foaly looked up innocently.  
"It's not just us. N°1, Foaly, Mulch, and you!" Holly cut in.  
"Looks like we're going back above ground!" Sang a dwarf who happened to be walking inside.  
"Hello." N°1 said, walking in behind Mulch.  
"I thought you were still learning?" Holly exclaimed, hugging the little warlock.  
"Yes, but they let me get a month off. I heard we are taking a trip? Wherever to?" N°1 asked.  
"Ever heard of Artemis Fowl?" Trouble asked.  
"Who hasn't? He saved my people."  
N°1 said.  
"Yes... Well, Foaly, which shuttle can we take?" Trouble asked, walking over towards the centaur, who was extremely quiet.  
"To Tara? Take the third one." Foaly responded, not like his usual, joking self.  
"Foaly, what's wrong?" Holly asked asked Trouble left the room to get the shuttle ready.  
"It's the kids. They are acting like they don't need me anymore." Foaly sighed.  
"Don't worry! It's just a stage they go through." Holly said, and smiled a little. Cheered up, Foaly became his usual self.  
"Shuttle three is one of the best models this year! I designed it myself, and it is perfectly safe." Foaly said, as the rest of them followed the centaur towards their shuttle.  
"Well, let's see what it can do. Where's Trouble?" Holly asked, sitting in the pilot's seat.  
"What's this?" Foaly asked, picking up a piece of paper.  
"Let me see." Mulch reached over and snagged the paper, plucking it out of Foaly's hands.  
" _Thanks for the Commander. You can't evade me forever. Not now. Not ever!_ Gee, thanks for the optimism." Mulch muttered after he finished reading.  
"Then we should better be going." Holly swallowed, suddenly noticing the sticky, red patches could possibly have been Trouble's blood.  
"This shuttle hasn't been used since-" Foaly suddenly stopped, as he and Holly both knew who Foaly was talking about.  
"Since Julius Root." Holly finished his sentence, swallowing the lump in her throat the best she could.  
She clearly remembered the bright explosion, the ripping force created by Opal Koboi. Holly's hands tightened on the steering wheel, and Foaly casually reached over and lessened the pressure.  
"Get us to some Mud Men." He said, smiling encouragingly, trying to lighten the mood.  
"This is going to be a bumpy ride!" Holly said, and started the engine. The shuttle crashed along the tunnel, all of the passengers hurrying to strap themselves into the seats. Finally, they arrived at Tara, concealing the shuttle the best they could.  
As everyone else went outside to breathe the air and chat with Butler and Artemis, Holly hung back and looked at the blood again.  
Without thinking, Holly took a sample of it and scanned the blood. As the readings came back, she couldn't believe her eyes. Artemis came into the shuttle, took one look at her face, and rushed over to see the readings too.  
"Julius Root." He breathed.  
Root was already injured from who knows what, and yet he still decided to go on all those missions with Holly and Artemis- until the very end.  
Until Koboi.  
"Relax, Holly, we will sort it out." Artemis said, his breath hitting Holly's face as he tried to unclench her fingers from the blood tester.  
"It's all my fault." Holly finally snapped, leaning against Artemis for support.  
"It's all my fault. If I hadn't messed up so many times he wouldn't have come with me. And then he wouldn't be dead." She sobbed, over and over, tears leaking out of her eyes since his death.  
"Shhh. It will be okay." Artemis tried to console her, until finally, her sobs died down.  
"I'm sorry." She whispered, whiping her eyes.  
"It's okay. Come on. The others are waiting for us." Artemis whispered, staring into her eyes. One blue on Hazel. The eyes were murdered on each face, both with the same colored eye.  
"I'm sorry I lied to you." He said, before taking a needle and stabbing it into the fairy's neck, injecting the knockout serum. Resulting crashes from around the shuttle indicated all of the other magical beings going down as well.  
"Sorry. Did I go to early?" Butler poked his head in, but his voice was wrong. And his size. And weight. Butler suddenly pulled back his facing, showing a pixie- who now looked human- baring her teeth at Artemis Fowl.  
"Nobody noticed anything until thay stupid dwarf said something about my height. I was only a few inches behind. I can't make the stilts taller!" Opal Koboi fumed.  
"It's okay. Help me take them back to headquarters, with Root." Artemis said, his eyes dark and pupils dilated.  
Something wasn't right.


	2. Chapter 2: Oh, boy, Koboi

Holly woke up, blinking blearily at the bright lights that shone in her eyes. She struggled for a moment, trying to remember everything that had happened when she was talking with Artemis.

 _"I'm sorry I lied to you." He said, before taking a needle and stabbing it into Holly's neck. Holly froze in shock, staring at the spot where Artemis was injecting something into her._

 _"Artemis... how could you?" Holly whispered, her body failing. As her world collapsed around her, Holly managed to see none other than Opal Koboi step into the old shuttle and exchange a few friendly words with him. Finally, Holly's legs failed her and she crashed into Artemis for support, with only one thing swirling in her head. As her eyes started failing, Holly suddenly lost all connection to her body, floating out her her body like it was a shell._

 _Artemis..._

"You are just a TRAITOR! Did you trick Butler, too, or was it just a lie like you tricked the People? The People who trusted you and believe you to be the nicest Mud Man anyone had every seen. Well, I'll tell them they were wrong! I can't believe they trusted you! How could you do that to them? To me?" Holly gasped, tears pooling at the bottom of her eyes as she screamed her pain and anguish towards the cameras she was sure were there.

"I thought I loved you..." She finally whispered, calming down slightly.

A few doors down, Artemis clenched his phone tightly. He had hardwired the computer room, changing the cameras in the room where Holly was to a video loop, with occasional changes. Meanwhile, everything Holly said went to his phone, where he could hear it.

Artemis heard every single word Holly Short said, and they caused him pain.

Pain like he'd never felt before.

"Holly!" Coughed a centaur who was nearby. Holly spun to find Foaly hogtied so he couldn't move an inch straining so he could talk to her.

"Foaly!" Holly shouted, straining to stand up. For some reason, she wasn't tied like Foaly, but she merely shrugged it off. Foaly, however, couldn't.

"Why aren't you tied?" He whined.

"Because, maybe Artemis thought I couldn't do anything. Because I am just a stupid elf who was tricked and deceived." Holly ranted, stumbling over to the centaur, pulling off the rope.

"Did you really love Artemis?" Foaly asked quietly, after a minute of rubbing his flank.

"I loved the Artemis Fowl I thought I knew." Holly replied, turning away so Foaly couldn't see her face. And see her lie.

"Okay. Well, let's go find Mulch-"

"You go ahead. I'll look for a way to escape." Holly said, well, shortly, finally looking the old centaur in the eye.

"Come here." Foaly opened his arms, enveloping the elf in a huge bear hug.

"It's going to be okay. Are you sure it was Artemis anyways?" Foaly asked.

"He did it on his own, with Opal Koboi posing as Butler. And no, she couldn't have used the _mesmer_ on him. You can tell by the pupils." Holly spoke as Foaly opened his mouth to cut in.

Foaly opened and closed his mouth like a fish for a moment, before grunting and turning away towards a door.

"I'll look for Mulch." He said, and trotted out the door.

Holly sighed and walked towards a junk heap, where a large box rested. She tried and move the box away, but it was too heavy. So Holly tried to open the box flaps, but they were stuck tight. Shrugging, Holly skirted the pile and the box, and turned away.

"Hey, Holly-" Spoke a voice which Holly thought she would never hear again.

"What do you want, Artemis?" Holly snapped, whirling around. Her hair, which she had chosen to grow out, whipped around her head, snagging on some of the junk behind her.

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I had no choice-"

"You had no choice? The great Artemis Fowl had no choice! That is another lie you have told me. What, you 'had' to take a few thousand dollars, or euros, or whatever kind of payment you want now?" Holly shouted, her cheeks coloring like another Commander they both knew.

"Holly, I really am sorry-" Artemis pleaded, reaching forward to touch her shoulder.

"Don't touch me!" Holly shouted, slapping his hand away and stepping out of his reach. "Now here you are, siding with Opal Koboi, who, by the way, was the one who _killed Julius Root_ , and do you care? No. Did you even care for Root? Did you care that he died?" Holly asked, tears once again pooling in her eyes. She turned away and ran behind the pile, leaving Artemis behind with his hand raised, reaching out for one of his best elf friends.

Holly paused, listening for the sound of Artemis. Surprisingly, something clinked to the ground and then she heard his footsteps leaving the room, and the unmistakable sound of a door opening and closing.

Then silence.

Holly shielded herself, using up a little bit of her magic, and crept around the pile. She saw her old LEP helmet she left after Artemis kidnapped her, along with a spare LEP suit with her wings. After she donned the clothes and helmet, Holly scanned the room and saw two more things that Artemis left behind. She whimpered in relief as she saw her Neutrino on the ground, and she placed that back into it's place on her hip. The last item she found, thought, was not a weapon. Artemis had left her hope, and a way to escape.

He left her a single acorn.

Holly stared out the door which Artemis left from, until she suddenly shook her head violently, erasing all of the doubts she had of Artemis actually tricking Opal...

But it was too good to be true.

She had one betrayal from him, she wasn't going to give him another one.

Holly scanned the room with her helmet, searching for another exit than the two in which Foaly and Artemis left. But there wasn't one. So Holly left through the door she left Foaly at and found herself in a brightly lit hallway.

There was a door at the end of the hallway, slightly ajar. Listening carefully, Holly heard the unmistakable sounds of Mulch and Foaly, although they sounded slightly muffled.

"Hey guys-" Holly burst in through the door, but she found something she thought she never would have come across.

"D'arvit." She swore, staring at the top of a pixie's head.

But this was no pixie.

The pixie in question was facing the other direction, towards the computer screens at the front of the room.

"Holly Short. Ex-Captain of the LEP service, and you were there at Julius Root's death. Have you been shooting at any other red buttons lately?" Opal Koboi taunted, finally swinging around to show Holly her rounded, Mud Men-like ears.

"You killed Julius Root. You are a monster!" Holly shouted, flushing.

"Oh, really? Did Artemis tell you anything about Julius lately?" Opal asked, smirking smugly.

"I don't trust Artemis." Holly snapped.

"Well, I guess you don't want to know anything about Root's _condition_." Opal sighed, still smirking.

"What do you mean?" Holly asked after a moment.

"Root is alive." Opal cackled, pulling out the exact gun Julius Root was previously know to use, a tri-barreled water cooler. Holly ducked at the last second, narrowly missing the red laser of heat aimed her way. Without thinking to pull out the Neutrino at her hip, Holly scrabbled for the door, bursting out into the hallway with Opal Koboi hot on her heels.

Holly ran, screaming for Foaly and Mulch. She knew that pixies couldn't outrun trained LEP members, and sure enough, Holly was on her own in the hallway. She still zigzagged back and forth through the hallway, hoping to make a harder target as she never stayed in the same spot.

Suddenly, Holly ran into Mulch and Foaly, grabbing Foaly's hand, who in turn, grabbed Mulch by the beard.

"Ouch, ouch, cut it out! This beard is extremely sensitive!" Mulch groaned through clenched teeth. "Who are we running from, anyways?"

"Opal Koboi." Holly replied, well, shortly. Mulch yelped as Foaly suddenly ran ahead, and the three of them were moving faster and faster, until Holly pointed towards a single, black door at the end of another hallway.

"I think N°1 is in there!" She shouted, and Foaly swung the door open, allowing the elf and dwarf go inside. As soon as the last hoof went into the room, Foaly slammed the door and panted.

"I never want to go on another field mission again." He said wearily.

"It wasn't and it still isn't." Holly couldn't help teasing the old centaur.

"But my kids..." Foaly moaned.

"If we don't stop Koboi, you won't have kids." Mulch mumbled, and the two of them started fighting.

"Enough, enough!" Holly shouted, and then shivered.

"Wow... it's cold in here!" Foaly grumbled. Each gulp of air they breathed out shone for a minute like a ghostly fire from a dragon.

"Why is it so cold?" Mulch mumbled, as Foaly started to check all the corners for N°1.

"Holly..." Mulch gulped, tugging on Holly's sleeve. Holly glanced up, too, and they both froze.

There was a huge block of ice, and inside the ice was an elf. It was a male, and he was broad-chested, and his hair seemed like it used to be a buzz cut, but now parts of it had grown out. The color itself was gray and ragged, and the man was in simple elf clothes, though the elf and dwarf outside the ice could clearly imagine him in the required LEPrecon uniform.

Suddenly, Foaly cantered up to them, still not noticing the elf in the ice.

"Is that-" Foaly started, finally seeing the ice.

Holly nodded, finishing his sentence.

"Julius Root."

Very much alive.


End file.
